Escape
by Fareway19
Summary: Hiccup and the gang get caught up in a "small" Berserker skirmish while on a trainee camping trip designed by Gobber. Not only will their limits be tested, but they must work together to turn their hostage into an escape.
1. Humble Beginnings

**A.N.**

**This is another suspense story, takes place after Gumshoe about a couple of weeks. ****It'd be very helpful for anyone who hasn't read ****_Nameless Foray_**** to read it to understand the how's and when's because this story continues a problem derived from those events. ****_Gumshoe_**** would help clarify some details as well.**

**This isn't a sequel, just another 'episode' in my line of stories. And as always...**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing  
**

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**Escape**

**Chapter 1**

**Humble Beginnings**

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"_It's good to know who has your back and who doesn't. Often times, life will throw you a problem that needs more than one set of hands to solve. And as the viking saying goes, two horns are better than one."_

-Hiccup

The sun shone at high noon with little to no clouds joining its presence. Days like these were rare for Berk, what with it snowing nine months out of the year and hailing the other three. But when these days rolled around, the children used them to their full advantage.

"Wooooohohohooooo!" Hiccup yelled in delight as he twisted in the air before landing back down on the waves. He smiled as maneuvered his board closer towards Astrids' before turning off again and catching more air at the top of the wave.

"Show off!" Astrid yelled as she too smiled, not because of the reason Hiccup was—having fun—but because of the fact that she, oddly, couldn't help but blush when she looked at him.

_Maybe it's just the swimming suit..._ she thought.

To pick up her speed, she lowered herself closer to her board. Maneuvering up to the top of the wave, she turned just before the water ended and raced back down its liquid slope. The water started to curve inward as it got closer to land, and the two screamed with joy as they raced each other through the watery tunnel. Hiccup saw an opening and took it, jumping over of the top of the wave and gliding down the other side. Astrid, however, took her chances further, testing how much longer she had until she crashed. She flirted with danger for too long and as the land came up, the water came down, taking her with it.

Her wooden board broke through the surface like a rocket, shooting straight up close to a ninety degree angle before coming back down on its flat face. It floated on the water, moving about with the small waves. Astrid joined it as she took in a deep breath of oxygen once she surfaced. Swimming over, she hung onto it with both hands and allowed her legs to relax a little.

Hiccup paddled over to her, making sure to keep a good distance before stopping and sitting up straight.

He laughed, "Isn't it just like snowboarding?"

Astrid couldn't help but smile, "Sort of, same concept at least." She said as she lifted herself up and onto the board.

She couldn't understand why she was the one that had to crash while he was perfectly fine. It might have had something to do with his prosthetic. He designed his board similar to Toothless' saddle. Took him a while to make it, but the board had an attachment that would hook Hiccup's prosthetic foot into place and help keep him stable when standing. He really couldn't afford to crash as it wasn't as easy as just jumping off. He had to move his foot a certain way to unhook his prosthetic, crashing would only make problems worse.

"You make it look so easy." She continued, paddling over to the shore with him close behind her.

"Sorry," he apologized with a small giggle. She smiled and blushed slightly at it.

Back on the shore, Snotlout was building himself a sand castle, or to be more precise, _his _very own sand castle.

"There, Snotlout Manor two-point-o. Way better then the first one that got destroyed by a certain someone." Snotlout finished his sentence darkly as he remember Tuffnut stomping all of his first castle. Hookfang landed down beside Snotlout, wiggling playfully at his rider.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! Watch the building, I can't afford to construct another!" Hookfang's playful face dropped and he turned around to leave, purposely waving his tail to hit Snotlout which flung him into his own sand castle, completely destroying it.

Fishlegs, who was a good distance across the beach, was piling up rocks for Meatlug. Said dragon sat patiently for her rider to finish her 'order' of food, licking her chaps as the pile kept growing bigger and bigger. With a final huff, the last rock was place on top.

"Phew, there you go Meatlug, the finest rocks I could—" All the rocks were eating in one bite.

"—find. Aw, you must have been hungry." he said as he scratched her chin and kissed her face. She smiled and panted happily from the pampering.

Two screams of joy echoed from the top of the cliff, both boys looking up to see the twins swinging off of the rope they tied to the balcony and dropped into the sea below.

"Ah man!" "That was awesome!" they said after coming up for air.

"We have got to do that again!" Tuffnut said as he began to swim towards shore.

"Best idea ever!" Ruffnut added.

"Hey guys, nice form, I guess. I'd give it an eight." Hiccup commented while he and Astrid paddled to shore, meeting up with the others on the beech. Both jammed their boards into the sand before grouping up.

"Hahaha, yes; I get an eight." Ruffnut announced, coming up to her brother.

"Hey, no fair; what's my score?"

"I don't know, an eight?" Astrid answered.

"Haha, yes, two more than yours!" he said, rubbing it in Ruffnut's face.

"That's the same number as mine." Ruffnut replied.

"Eh, I would have given it a seven." Snotlout butted in as he walked up to them.

"Oh yeah, well then you get a six!" Tuffnut argued.

"But I didn't even do anything!" Snotlout argued back

"Exactly."

"You know what, fine, you get a five now." Snotlout said, crossing his arms.

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"You don't even get a score!" Tuffnut gasped as if it was the harshest thing someone had ever said to him.

Ruffnut chuckled, "Burn,"

Fishlegs stopped beside Hiccup, leaning in to whisper to him and Astrid.

"Do you guys just wanna go back to the tree house?"

"Yeah, I've watched this before." Astrid commented. The three of them grabbing their things and climbing on top of their dragons. Hiccup and Astrid had to call theirs first though as Stormfly and Toothless were hanging out at the house, literally.

* * *

Two Berserkers hid behind some bushes as they watched the kids have fun. Both scowling at them as they gathered more information. They kept a close eye on Hiccup, watching his every movement and categorizing their options.

"What would he most likely trigger?" one asked.

"Its not that he _wouldn't_ trigger them, its if he would get _caught up_ in them. He does have a small frame." the other concluded.

"Hmmm, perhaps make the hole bigger?"

"It would better our chances, come on, let's go inform the boss." The two left in tip-toe, silently moving around the leaves and using the soundless rocks to their advantage. If you didn't know any better, it was like they weren't even there.

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**There's the first chapter of Escape; as always, it starts out as a nice, beautiful day. Then everything goes south and suspense walks on to the stage!**

**Thanks for reading, more chapters to come; about the same length as my other stories, they always are.**


	2. The First Night

**A.N.**

**I wish to thank everyone who reviewed, who's favorited, and who is following my story. Thanks for all who came and read and thank you boredom for allowing me to want to write more often.**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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**Escape**

**Chapter 2**

**The First Night**

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Westpoint had finally being finished after the teens got cured of their sickness. The walls were built up with windows placed on all sides. The entrance of the house was to the side of the tree, just right of the cliff; seven total steps leading up to the front door. Said wooden door was latched securely to the wall, open now that the kids were currently inside. Some parts of the roof were covered by the tree's very own branches, the thick stems acting as a stabilizer for the ceiling. The back entrance had no door as this lead to the large balcony. Besides the grassy area in front of the tree house, the balcony acted as the dragon's landing zone, the group making sure it was sturdy by adding a few crisscrossing boards connecting the underneath to the rock wall of the cliff.

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Four of the teens, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and Hiccup, sat in the tree house eating their lunch. The tables and chairs were moved off to the side so they could sit on the floor, their meals in front of them.

Astrid adorned her light blue two piece, sitting to the left of Hiccup as she ate her chicken leg. She sat Indian style with her plate balancing in one hand as the chicken leg was in the other. Her dragon, Stormfly, was outside of the tree house resting on its branches.

Fishlegs had his dark blue and brown swim trunks on, sitting on his butt with his feet out in front of him and curved slightly inward. He just munched on some cod; having a small pile of stones next to him, he occasionally through some behind him, they being caught by Meatlug.

Snotlout wore his red dyed trunks, not really eating at all as he flexed his muscles and examined his frame. Hookfang was out doing who knew what, Snotlout's best guess was chasing some stray bird or other type of animal.

Hiccup sat with one leg bent in and the other up, one arm relaxing on his knee. He had on his forest green swim trunks while eating some of the snow berries they picked before coming here. There was two bowls filled with the red fruit and one bowl was already eaten. Beside him was Toothless, eying the fruit as he watched each one plop into Hiccup's mouth.

"Hey Astrid, do my muscles look bigger with this bathing suit on?" Snotlout asked with a smile and wiggling eye brows.

"The only thing that looks bigger is your ego." Astrid retorted, placing her chicken leg back down on her plate. She turned her head at Hiccup, "Hiccup, can you pass the snow berries?" she asked politely. Hiccup smiled and nodded, sliding the bowl across the floor to his left.

"Thank you."

"No problem me lady."

Suddenly, the twins barged into the room and clambered over to the balcony, each breathing heavy as if they were racing.

"What are you two doing?" Astrid asked.

"Going to swing off of the ropes again." Tuffnut answered as he paused in his haste.

"Why?"

"Because its fun."

"But you guys have been swinging on those ropes all day." Hiccup stated, observing their heavy breathing.

"Because its fun." Tuffnut repeated himself. He spotted the snow berries within the bowl by Astrid and reached his hand. He almost spilled every last one of them as he pulled out more than a hand full and stuffed most of it in his mouth. The few that were still in his hand he through at his sister's face.

"Here sis, have some." he mumbled with his mouth full. She flinched and closed her eyes as they hit her face.

No sooner did they came, they left. Hiccup shook his head, but smiled as he listened to them scream and plummet down into the sea water. He noticed how hungry Toothless looked and grabbed a cod for him from the center plate. He threw it up in the air and Toothless caught it in his mouth. He immediately went back to eying the snow berries Astrid was now plopping into her mouth.

The sound of a roaring Thunderdrum caught everyone's attention, each head turning either towards the door or the window next to it. Coming out of the house, they saw Stoick and Gobber hopping off of Thornado.

"Alright, pack yer things, yer going camping. Actually, skip the packing, yer just going camping." Gobber said as he and his friend made their way up to the group.

"Sweet, we get to camp here?!" Fishlegs exclaimed happily.

"Not here, out there." Gobber pointed into the forest to his left.

"You're all going on a trainee camping trip to test your strength in the wild. Me and Gobber went on one when we were lads and we think its about time you kids did so too." Stoick explained.

"Why?" Astrid asked.

"Yeah, aren't we brutally trained enough by Hiccup already?" Snotlout commented, receiving an annoyed look from Hiccup.

"You all have been relying on yer dragons to help out when it comes to battle..." Stoick continued.

"But that's what their here for, to help us." Hiccup replied, not fully understanding his dad's reasons.

"I know that son, but you six need to learn how to defend yourselves whenever the dragons can't."

"Speaking of _six_ where are the twins?" Gobber asked as he recounted the numbers.

"Whoa, that jump was some how better than the others." Tuffnut stated as he and his sister came up to the group, both of them soaking wet.

Ruffnut chuckled, "Hehe, yeah."

"Dry yourselves off, yer going camping." Gobber informed them.

"Wait, you mean like in the woods?" Tuffnut asked stupidly.

"No, I mean like out in the sea." Gobber said sarcastically.

"I think I'd like the woods better." Tuffnut whispered to his sister, Ruffnut nodding in agreement.

"You'll be spending yer time trying to survive for two weeks..." Gobber went on.

Hiccup gasped as Fishlegs froze where he stood, eyes wide.

"Two weeks?" Astrid asked, not believing what she was hearing.

"You gotta be kidding me," Ruffnut complained.

"I'm gonna die." Snotlout stated, his confidence already out the door.

"You can say that again." Tuffnut agreed with Snotlout.

"No supplies may be taken with you, you'll have to start from scratch. Training beginnings first thing tonight" Gobber finished.

"Tonight?! Why couldn't we wait til the morning?" Ruffnut asked in disbelief.

"Starting tonight gives you guys a challenge. If you make it through the first night, you'll be fine the rest of the two weeks." Gobber answered.

"Yeah, cause that's just what we wanted ya know, a challenge." Tuffnut added his two cents.

"And the worst part about all this, we can't even have our dragons." Snotlout commented.

"That's why you're doing this. To learn to survive and defend yourselves by yourselves. Now get a move on, eat, sleep, do what ever you want to now before ya leave." He cupped a hand at his mouth and whispered, "Trust me, the woods don't play favorites."

All of them looked at each other, faces cringing from fear of what was to come.

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Night came quicker than any of them would of liked, no sooner after the sun set were the teens pushed out of the village and into the forest with nothing but the each other and the clothes on their backs. All six of them walked through the forest, climbing over fallen branches and weaving around thick shrubs.

"This is so stupid! We couldn't even bring our satchels! Wasn't it _they_ who kept droning on about never leaving Berk without one?" Snotlout complained.

"Well, technically, we aren't leaving Berk..." Hiccup stated factually.

"I never asked for your opinion!" Snotlout yelled in reply.

"Calm down Snotlout, the only advantage we have right now is each other." Astrid joined in, defending Hiccup.

"Yeah guys, this won't be so bad. Us against the wild, how cool is that?!" Fishlegs commented excitedly, bouncing up and down a little. Tuffnut and Ruffnut just looked at him, astonished.

"Wait, you're actually excited for all of this?" Ruffnut asked.

"Uh huh," Fishlegs replied with a smile, "I think it'll be fun!"

"I think he's finally cracked." Tuffnut whispered to Ruffnut.

"The first thing we need to do is find a spot to rest for the night." Hiccup got right down to it.

"We need to find a nice dry spot under a tree, that'll help shelter us from the wind." Astrid added.

"Uh, how about over there?" Tuffnut pointed to a group of spruce trees.

"That could work." Hiccup said, walking over and kneeling down to feel the ground. "Perfect, now all we need now is a fire."

"Great, who's going to get the wood?" Snotlout asked with an eye roll.

"I volunteer... Snotlout to be the one to gather the fire wood." Astrid announced.

"Hey!"

"Oh cool, hey, can I volunteer Ruffnut?" Tuffnut asked while pointing at his sister. Ruffnut smacked his finger away.

Hiccup sighed, "We'll all get some wood." the rest sighed but left do what was needed.

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Fishlegs, Astrid, Hiccup, the twins and Snotlout all sat around the fire pit, Hiccup trying to start the fire. He knelt on one knee, held two sticks over the pit and rubbed them together. He hadn't made much success within the last twenty minutes, and began to get angry at the twigs for not sparking.

"I'm bored," Tuffnut said.

"I'm hungry," Ruffnut added.

"I'm tired," Snotlout joined.

"I can't get this fire started." Hiccup commented.

"Can I go to bed, maybe that'll help keep my mind off of thinking about nothing." Tuff asked.

"Come on guys, we're a team, and like the saying goes, there's no _I_ in _team_." Fishlegs said trying to cheer everyone up.

"Alright fine, _we're_ bored," Tuff repeated.

"_We're_ hungry," Ruff repeated.

"And _we're_ tired." Snotlout repeated.

"I still can't get this fire started." Hiccup repeated himself also.

"Here let me see that, you're probably doing it wrong." Snotlout took the sticks from Hiccup and shoved him out of the way. "This is how a real man makes fire."

Snotlout stood there for another twenty minutes rubbing the sticks together with no results.

"Okay, I give up. These twigs are defective, just like you." Snotlout accused towards Hiccup.

"Me?"

"Yeah _you_, you were the one who went and got these. Only an idiot knows these twigs don't start a fire."

"They're just sticks! Its not like any of them have labels that say '_this one is for building a fire', 'this one is for constructing tools', 'this one is for poking someone in the eye'_!"

"That last one could come in handy." Snotlout retorted.

"Errrrr, you are so **unbelievable**! Every time I'm trying to help out, you go and criticize my every move!"

"That's because everything you do is wrong!"

"You know what Snotlout, fine! If you think you can survive through this without my help, go ahead, because I am **gone**!" Hiccup stomped off.

"Hiccup!" Astrid called out to him. She got up and ran after him.

"Hiccup, where are you going, we have to stick together." she said as she caught up to his silhouette.

"That's not what _Snotlout_ thinks." he replied with ignorance.

"That's _Snotlout_, none of us think you're useless. We need you Hiccup."

Hiccup stopped in his tracks, his body frozen as his senses went into overdrive.

"Hiccup?"

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Exactly... nothing." the two of them made no sound as their ears picked up on nothing. Hiccup could almost hear his own heart beat.

"Come on, let's go back to the others." He said as he grabbed Astrid's arm and hurried back to their camp sight where Snotlout was still messing with the two sticks.

"Did you get a fire started?" Astrid asked, a slight rush obvious in her tone.

"No, does it look like I got anything started?"

Astrid sighed, "Give me that." She took the twigs out of Snotlout's hand and began to rub them together. Her movements got faster and faster as her hands were beginning to get shaking. Snotlout and the twins were oblivious to her sudden rush, but Fishlegs noticed.

"Uh, Astrid?" He didn't get a reply so instead he turned to Hiccup. The only thing Hiccup was doing was constantly searching the darkness for... something. Fishlegs got a sudden bad feeling and became just as nervous as Astrid.

Sparks finally flew out of the sticks and landed on the pile of dry wood. Astrid immediately rushed over to Hiccup's side, Fishlegs following, scared from the sudden movement and his friend's uneasiness. The twins and Snotlout sensed something wrong as well and the three of them huddled together. No one made a move as the fire began to flicker and grow over the wood, illuminating a very small portion of their surroundings.

The croak of a single bull frogs made them all jump and gasp. The frog croaked again before jumping off under the dew coated leaves. They all relaxed as their wild imaginations finally let up.

"Okay, for a moment there, I thought we were in trouble." Astrid was the first to speak.

"Pfff, no one wants to mess with us." Snotlout commented with a wave of his hand.

"Yeah, we sure showed that... frog." Tuffnut added. He looked at his sister questionably, she just shrugged her shoulders.

"Can we go to sleep now, I feel tired all of a sudden." Fishlegs whined.

"Me too." Astrid agreed with him.

"Alright, let's hit the hay." Hiccup proclaimed.

"There's no hay to hit." Tuff said groggily as he lay down his head and fell asleep. Hiccup ignored him and closed his eyes, scooting his body a little closer to the warm fire. He tried to clear his mind off of their situation, but it just didn't work. He kept his eyes closed, but he couldn't get to sleep. He turned onto his other side, back now facing the fire. Looking out into the darkness, he watched as his eyes tried to play tricks on him; seeing a bug fly by almost made him to believe is was something else, seeing a tree leaves move almost made him to believe they were something else, even that glint of metal made him to bel... wait what?

Hiccup's eyes widened when he spotted the split second of the silver. How could anyone miss it? It was silver within black. He stared at the spot where it happened, his eyes never moving away, his body frozen still. Hearing nothing and seeing nothing else, he furrowed his eyes before relaxing his body and readjusting himself to get comfortable.

He still couldn't get to sleep for some odd reason...

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**To be continued...**

**Sorry again for any typos I didn't catch**


	3. Obstacles

**Guys, calm down about the Berserkers; this chapter will hopefully answer your questions. If it doesn't pm me and hopefully I can clear things up.**

**Sorry again for any typos**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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**Escape**

**Chapter 3**

**Obstacles**

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The night dragged on for not only the teens, but Stoick as well. He paced back and forth within the Great Hall, hands behind his back as he walked to and fro around the bench Gobber was sitting at. Said viking was sipping down some of his drink before taking a bite into his chicken leg; he showed no signs of fear and seemed quite relaxed.

"Are ye sure this camping trip was a good idea, because I'm starting to second guess myself." Stoick said.

"You worry too much Stoick." Gobber replied, taking another bite out of his chicken.

"They're **Berserkers **Gobber! They aren't the kind of people you should toy with!"

"You wanted Hiccup to learn to defend himself, this is the best way to do it."

"By throwing him out into the world and getting himself killed by the Berserkers?!" Stoick exclaimed. Sighing, "We have to get them back right now." He started to march towards the doors, but Gobber got up and stood in his way with his arms held out.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hey; you need to give them a chance. Those Berserkers can't even walk into a field without something terrible happening to them. We got 'em scared so bad, their only chance in survival at the moment is stealth."

"I don't want to underestimate them, Gobber. This is Hiccup we're talking about."

"He's not alone, Stoick. There's six of them."

"And there's twelve of _them_."

"You can't continue to shield him, none of them! I know there is a good chance they'll run into the Berserkers, I know there is a good chance that the Berserkers would want to kill or capture them, I know they're out there with nothing but each other, but I also know they can handle it. We discussed this before and you were with me one hundred percent, if not then ninety-five. They have to learn how to defend themselves. The perfect opportunity arose and we took it. They won't get better training than this." Gobber explained. The two stared hard at each other.

"There's no way off this island besides our docks?"

"Yep,"

"You've got scouts out there twenty four seven hunting down those stragglers?"

"Oh absolutely,"

"You're confident in this plan?"

"From the very start."

"Fine, two weeks, that's it. Any second past that amount of time, we send the dragons out and look for them." Stoick ordered with a finger pointing at Gobber.

"Two weeks tops." replied with his hands up in surrender.

* * *

The sun rose over the horizon, giving light onto the world that was plunged in darkness. The gang came back to their little camp sight and dropped whatever it was they were carrying into a pile. The morning light had given them a chance to gather supplies; not wanting to waste any time during the afternoon.

"Alright guys, what do we have?" Astrid asked looking down at the pile of randomness. Her, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins stood around it.

"I found some sharp rocks for cutting." Snotlout answered.

"I found a few hard sticks." Fishlegs replied.

"We picked some black berries, but ate them on the way here." Ruffnut said. The others looked at them, disappointed.

"But we managed to get these instead." Tuffnut offered up a small pile of red balls of fruit. Fishlegs smiled with a watery mouth and took a couple, Snotlout too.

"Snow berries, please tell me you didn't see any trolls." Astrid asked him while grabbing a couple and plopping them into her mouth.

"No, at least I don't think we did." Tuff replied.

"We saw trees, does that count?" Ruff asked.

"There, finished." Hiccup said, standing up from where he was crouching and held up his product.

"Finished what?" Snotlout asked, some saliva spitting out of his mouth from him chewing on the berries.

"The rope." Hiccup held up a long strand of green vines weaved tightly together.

"That's not rope, that's just vines tied together." Snotlout pointed out.

"They're weaved, there is a difference. And before you say it, yes its a big difference. The intertwined strands will keep hold and act just like rope."

"Wow, that could really come in handy." Fishlegs said with a smile.

"You mean like tying a rock and a stick," Hiccup took the stick from Fishlegs and one sharp rock from Snotlout, "together making a fishing spear?" Hiccup held up the spear with a smile.

"Or a spear all together, I could hunt some serious game with this." Snotlout said taking the weapon away from Hiccup.

"Oh good, we finally get some food." Tuff said with relief

"I'm starving." Ruff added. Fishlegs' stomach growled loudly, attracting everyone's attention.

"I might be a little bit hungry." he confessed sheepishly.

"Come on, this way." Hiccup said heading off.

"Where are we going?" Astrid asked, walking right behind him, the others following.

"To the cove, its safer and has clean water." Hiccup answered her.

"Right, and when we get there, we can go fishing!" Tuffnut exclaimed happily, giving his sister a high five.

Two Berserker scouts watched them leave from a bush a good distance away. They narrowed their eyes as they relayed what they heard from their targets.

"No dragons?" the one looked at the other. It was peculiar for the boy to be seen without his companion Night Fury, but seeing this as a perfect opportunity they let the facts slide.

"They're heading to the cove, let's inform the boss." Both men left their post, skipping over rocks as they hurried toward their destination.

* * *

"I spy with my little eye something... green" Tuffnut's voice echoed through the forest.

"Let me guess, that bush." Snotlout replied pointing to a bush he just passed.

"Okay, that's kind of freaky. How'd ya know it was that exact bush?" Tuff asked thinking Snotlout to be some sort of witch.

"Easy, you wouldn't pick something that was hard to find or far away." Snotlout answered. Ruffnut chuckled at his comment.

"What's so funny?" he asked his sister.

She rolled her eyes and sighed, "He's calling you an idiot, idiot."

"How did you get idiot out of that statement?" Once again, Ruffnut sighed from his incompetence.

"Guys, focus! We need to keep our eyes open." Hiccup said trying to get everyone on task.

"Um, for what, exactly?" Fishlegs asked with hesitation.

"Um, you know," Hiccup didn't really know how to go about it; "boars, falling trees, a Berserker or two..." his voice died down once he mentioned the Berserkers.

"Berserker? Did I hear that right?" Astrid exclaimed.

"Uh..."

"I thought you already got that guy?" Snotlout asked, remembering how Hiccup told them of his troubles during the time when they were all sick.

"One, there was thirteen total." Hiccup confessed. He didn't mention it to them before because he figured his dad would have informed them. Guess he was wrong.

"Wait," Astrid stopped walking, the others stopped as well. "Why would Stoick and Gobber send us out into the woods , completely unarmed and with nothing, when they know there are blood-thirsty Berserkers here too?!"

"Blood-thirsty...?" Fishlegs was getting scared.

"Okay, that part of the story, I don't know the answer to. All I know is what you guys know, they said we needed to learn to defend ourselves." Hiccup concluded in evaluation.

"Against the Berserkers! This is insane!" Ruffnut exclaimed, her nervous beginning to get to her.

"You guys are such wimps! I'll take on all twelve of those losers with both hands tied behind my back!" Snotlout proclaimed confidently.

"How are you going to fight them then?" Tuffnut asked, curious as ever.

"With my **face**!"

Fishlegs snorted, "The only thing you could break with your face is a mirror."

"What did you just say?!"

"Ooooh," "Oh, this is gonna be good." the twins cheered them on.

"Oh for Pete's sake, this is hopeless; all they do is fight." Astrid complained to Hiccup. "Come on Hiccup," she took his hand and lead him forward, "let's just go to cove; if they want to fight, then let them fiiiii**iiiiiiight!**" she yelled as her foot was suddenly caught in a tight rope, pulling her upside down and off the ground.

"**ASTRID!**" Hiccup yelled.

* * *

**To be CONTINUED!**

**It took me a little longer to type this chapter out because I got really tired around 3 and took a nice cat nap. I also had to go over my options again on whether or not to include this one scene I had planned out, but I leave that for the next chapter. As you can see, the cliffhanger.**

**Thanks again for those of you who've reviewed and done other things.**


	4. Trapped

**A.N.**

**Yeah, sorry about taking a little longer on updating this chapter. I had to give my brain a break. And I will admit, some of my ideas are out there. That's why I want to calm down a little, get back to the program. Not watching new episodes can make my imagination go wild. I try to watch the season 1 episodes again to keep my ideas within the box. I was thinking hard yesterday on whether or not to exclude my oc ideas in future stories. That's mainly why I didn't update. I want my facts and events to derive from the movie and TV series. I'm still thinking on it though.**

**In the mean time...**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 4**

**Trapped**

* * *

"**ASTRID!**" Hiccup shouted as he watched his best friend get taken up into the tree tops. The others stopped their bickering and looked. Astrid's ascend was finally slowed to a stop, her immediate action to try and get herself down. She squirmed and struggled to get a hold of the rope on her left ankle, but didn't have the strength to do so.

"Ah, Astrid, I'll get you down!" Snotlout exclaimed, moving to go underneath her and use the spear he had in his hand. Hiccup's eyes widened at the evident mistake in that move.

"Snotlout, NO!" He yelled as he ran forward and pushed Snotlout to the ground right before he dove as well. Five darts flew right over their heads, missing them by a hair. Snotlout shrieked in horror, his grip of the spear failing when he hit the ground.

"We're under attack!" Tuffnut yelled as he and his sister started to panic, inches away from breaking out into a full blown sprint. Fishlegs screamed at the top of his lungs; hands straight up, he ran forward with no control of any irrational thoughts.

"Fishlegs, no! Don't—" The twins started running two, following after Fishlegs and ran away.

"—run!" Hiccup tried to inform, his right arm stretched outward to them as if he could grab them and pull them back to safety. Snotlout swatted Hiccup's other hand off of his back,

"Forget this, I'm getting out of here!"

"No, guys, don't move, you'll activate more traps!" Hiccup's word died in the air as the others didn't hear him.

Fishlegs kept on running, each footstep bringing more and more clicks to his ears. Ropes activated and flew upwards, missing him by inches. One finally managed to get him, acting different than the others. Once Fishlegs stepped on the wire, a net came up in front of him and wrestled him to the ground. He struggled and screamed, his frantic actions causing another net to activate and fall on him.

The twins didn't fair much either. Their running caused a net catapulted from the ground to the sky, them nicely nestled inside. They hung from the tree tops at about Astrid's current level, the balled net twisting around to show both Tuffnut and Ruffnut hitting each other in the very small space that they had.

Back down on the ground, Hiccup had gotten up and ran after Snotlout, despite his knowing of the eminent danger of doing so. Snotlout's jog was soon shortened as one of his steps caused another group of spikes to fly towards him. Thankfully, they only impaled his clothing, keeping him stuck to a nearby tree.

Hiccup instantly halted his running, seeing how all of his friends were trapped. He looked over at the pile that was Fishlegs covered in netting, Snotlout helplessly glued to a tree, the twins dangling within a net from the trees, and Astrid hanging upside down in the tree tops like the twins.

"Astrid, I'm gonna try and get you down." He called, frozen to his spot as he turned his body around.

"How?" She replied from above, moving her head backwards to see Hiccup behind and below her.

"The spear," Hiccup's eyes drifted down to said weapon abandoned on the ground a few steps away. "I'm gonna throw it up to you and you can use it to cut yourself down." Astrid examined her leg again before looking back down at Hiccup."

"Okay!" she yelled down to him, ready to catch the spear. Hiccup stepped forward, stopped, looked around and listened. When he heard and saw nothing, he took another step forward and stopped again. His senses picked up nothing, so risked another. Nothing still, and another; the spear was just out of reach. One more step and...

He final step had activated a bola, which launched from the ground beside him and wrapped itself around his body. The force of the impact caused Hiccup to lose his balance and tumble over to his right, falling right into a cleverly hidden hole. Thankfully, the ditch didn't have any jagged shards protruding out of the bottom, and Hiccup tumbled down to its depth. He landed on his back, his limbs completely immobile from the bola. The fall downward had strained his neck muscles at the shoulder, his head getting hitting pretty hard with the final landing.

He laid dazed, blinking to keep his eyes open.

"So...close..." he whispered to himself before his vision blurred and he shut his eyes. World faded away from him.

* * *

"Ow, don't man handle me!" Astrid threatened as she was pushed down and forced to sit up against a wooden pole jutting out of the ground. Her arms were tied to Snotlouts', his back against one side of the pole while Astrid's was against the opposite. The others were in the same position, Tuffnut and Ruffnut tied together on a separate stake and Hiccup and Fishlegs on another, their post in the middle of the other two.

With the last hostage tied, the Berserker stood up and joined his other six companions who huddled around a small camp sight. Amongst the men, Astrid could pick out one female, long black hair and curved body. Her and a few other men were watching them, their eyes drifting back and forth between the six of them, most of them keeping their sights on Hiccup's unconscious form. Astrid, Hiccup and Tuffnut were facing their fire, the main part of their small camp, while Snotlout, Fishlegs and Ruffnut were facing the forest were two men leaned against separate trees sharpening their daggers.

"Hey Snotlout, now your chance." Ruff exclaimed in a whisper.

"Huh?"

"You said you could take them all on with both hands tied behind your back. Now's the perfect opportunity." Ruffnut reminded him. She and her brother smirked.

"Um, I was just... making a statement." Snotlout confessed embarrassed.

"Be quiet you two!" One of the Berserkers ordered.

"Yeah guys, shut up. It was _your_ loud mouths that got us spotted and captured." Astrid told them off.

Fishlegs whined, "I miss Meatlug."

"If we even had our dragons, we'd take you guys down." Tuffnut said raising his voice for the Berserkers to hear. It didn't matter, they heard every word they said as they were only a few feet away from them.

Fishlegs lift his head up against the pole and tried to turn it as far around as he could. He felt movement from his bindings indicating that Hiccup was awake.

"Hiccup?" he asked; the Berserkers' attention were on their friend. Said viking blinked his eyes open, trying to move his arms when he found out he couldn't.

"Well, well, well, look who's awake." The women said in a sultry voice. She stood up from amongst the Berserkers.

"Hiccup, is it?" She said while approaching the young Berkian. Hiccup didn't respond, just looked at her unamused. The woman stopped in front of him and knelt down.

"I'll be sure to thank your father later for giving us the perfect opportunity."

"What do you want?" Hiccup asked, more annoyed then threatened.

"It's simple, you join us on our trip back home."

"And if I say no?"

Her face hardened, "Then your friends die."

* * *

**To be CONTINUED...**

**I'm pretty sure this story won't be as long my others (it'll be less than 10 chapters). I'm still considering the whole "refresher".**

**Thanks go to all who've read, reviewed, favorited, followed, ect. Your support ****really**** helps me.**


	5. Hogtied

**A.N.**

**Thanks to Firestar'sniece I now have the inspiration I've been looking for to continue this story! Thank you so much, I don't know how you did it, but somehow you helped me!**

**I was going to end the story with this chapter, not per say of how the chapter is written now, but like a quick warp up due to an impending writer's block. I just couldn't organize my ideas or feel the need to further the story. But now its all good!**

**I already have my next story working, its called ****_Burdened Onus_****; will be posted as soon as this story is complete.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 5**

**Hogtied**

* * *

The nights weren't in Hiccup's favor; the first one he couldn't sleep at all from the nagging feeling that he was being watched—now he knows why—and the second on account that they were in the hands of the Berserkers. With little sleep in the period of forty eight hours, Hicucp's eyes were beginning to show dark rings.

He wasn't the only one, though. Each and every one of them were exhausted. It was only their first day and they had managed to not only get themselves captured, but now they were stuck in a very sticky situation.

They didn't like the threat given to them by their captor's so called "leader". In Astrid's opinion, she was just a player. She was, however, surprised that Hiccup hadn't made a single sarcastic remark like he always did when facing his enemies like this. It made her curious as to what he was thinking; what was going on in that brain of his, always coming up with plans on the fly, always surprising her with how creative he could get.

_He always makes intelligence look so good... _She mentally slapped herself,

_Now is not the time for that thinking..._

Snotlout struggled a little in his bindings, making Astrid's wrist rub angrily against the woven-vine rope.

"Will you quit bouncing around!" She hissed through a whisper. "That hurts!"

"I'm trying to see if I can loosen the rope, its really tight for vines." Snotlout replied.

"That's because its woven, sort of like how I did it with our fishing spear." Hiccup commented, rubbing in the fact.

"Well excuse me for being—"

"—ignorant?" Hiccup plugged in a word for him.

Much to Astrid's distaste for backing up Snotlout, "Hiccup, now is not the time." she said with sincere worry. She lowered her voice until it was almost inaudible. "We have to get out of here before they take you away." Hiccup's expression dropped at the fact. He was more worried about their well being instead of his, but Astrid's expression showed that they felt the same way about him vice versa.

Hiccup looked up from Astrid's face at the sound of someone coming near him. Forest green met ocean blue as Hiccup glared at the woman standing in front of him. She smirked at him while holding another set of makeshift rope made out of woven vines. Then she pulled out a knife. Astrid and Tuffnut's eyes widened at their imagination for what the knife was going to be used for. The other three, due to their backs facing the Berserker leader, had no clue what was going on.

The woman knelt down again to his eye level again, the two Berserkers hanging out against the trees rushed over to Fishlegs; Fishlegs looked at them with fear of the reasons behind their actions. With one quick flick of her wrist, the bindings around Hiccup and Fishlegs' arms were cut, their wrists were next to be freed. Instantly after the two were cut free, Hiccup's arm was harshly grabbed and he was forced upwards. The other two Berserkers aimed their weapons point-blank at Fishlegs, who didn't even so much as move a hair.

"Tie him back up," the woman commanded, the guards doing just that. They moved Fishlegs around to the other side of the square stake, the spot Hiccup once was. Hiccup was now struggling against the grip of the Berserker leader.

"What are you doing, let him go!" Astrid barked, her stare bouncing back from Hiccup to the lady.

"Vangar, come here and hold him still." she ordered in a casual voice. One of the Berserkers walked over and kicked Hiccup in the left knee pit (back of the knee). The kick caused Hiccup to drop unwillingly onto his knees; the Berserker then holding his arms out for his leader to tie them.

"Since I already know a little about you Hiccup, I think its time for you to know a little about me." she said as she tied his wrists together, tight. "My name's Svidi, one of the high commanders in Dagur's army. I use to be a bounty hunter, and you know what I learned over the years of collecting prizes? Children have very small frames—with the exception of your two friends here."

"Hey!" Snotlout and Fishlegs replied defensively.

Hiccup winced as the ropes were pulled tighter, "Its very easy for one such as yourself to wiggle free of a lose knot." she continued with a uncharacteristic smile. Cutting the rope to end the binding, she began wrapping Hiccup's arms and torso with the second half; pulling that tight as well.

_It feels like I'm being squeezed into my baby clothes..._ Hiccup commented mentally. Once she was done she stepped back and smiled, then frowned while looking down at his prosthetic before smiling again.

"Oh, almost forgot." She swirled her finger once, Vangar picking Hiccup up off his knees. He pushed him over closer to their fire pit, sitting him down amongst the other Berserkers. Svidi bent down and unfastened Hiccup's prosthetic.

"Souvenir." Hiccup stared at her as if he believed to have laser vision, his friends doing the same.

"Gag them." she said simply. Vangar looked at one of the other Berserkers. Said Berserker got up, grabbed a pile of clothes and tossed Vangar one before making his way over to the other five. Vangar tied the clothe around Hiccup's mouth, the other guard doing the same with Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs and the twins.

Svidi's uncanny pleasurable smile vanished when she turned her head away from Hiccup and to her men.

"You four," she addressed with authority, pointing to four of her soldiers. "Go take up your crossbows and begin your scout, the other four will be back soon." The soldiers got up,

"Yes ma'am."

"Right away miss."

Hiccup mentally noted how the scouts always seemed to group themselves in twos. He always noted how _Svidi_ seemed to change personalities when addressing certain men, especially him.

He narrowed his eyes while in thought; Svidi taking a seat next to him. Her close presence made him uneasy. He wanted to scoot away from her, but there was a slight set back in the mobility department. Unfortunate for him, not so unfortunate for her.

* * *

Stoick tapped his foot unconsciously on the wooden floor of his home. It was early morning, the sun rising above the horizon not too long ago. He was use to Hiccup waking up right about now, coming down the stairs with Toothless and the three of them would eat breakfast; Stoick then would proceed to go feed Thornado. But the only one who came down the steps this morning was Toothless. He didn't seem so thrilled about being alone either.

Said dragon stopped in front of the basket of fish Stoick caught for him. He stared sadly at them, one cod reminding him of the ones he'd always regurgitate half of the body on his rider's lap.

Stoick sighed putting his palm on the Night Fury's head, "I miss him too." Toothless cooed, longing for comfort from a certain boy.

"I'm sure he's fine, it's only two weeks." Stoick tried to cheer the dragon up. Truthfully, he was trying to cheer himself up, but he was failing terribly in both cases.

"If the worse happens," Stoick spoke to himself, "It's Gobber's fault."

* * *

**To be continued...**

**I think the funniest part out of all of this is the fact that they got captured the first day. But that's just me.**

**Thanks again for all of your support guys! You know I love it**


	6. Capture The Viking

**A.N.**

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday guys, I had a head ache. I can't focus when I have a head ache. There is a bunch of thoughts from Hiccup in this chapter, just a heads up.**

**Thanks again for all of you who posted a comment, read, favorite, followed, ect. Apologies again for any typos**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 6**

**Capture the Viking**

* * *

Hiccup spent his free time, which was all the time, thinking about the places he'd rather be and the things he'd rather be doing. He made a mental list, alphabetized it, and then listed each letter's containments from favorite to least favorite. Right now he was on _S_.

_Skydiving with Toothless_

_Scorching more shields with Toothless_

_Searching the forge to help find Gobber's wind pipes again…_

_How on earth does he keep losing them?_ Hiccup thought to himself. Getting his mind off of the situation was indeed helping him relax a little.

He had to readjust himself for his knees were starting to ache from sitting Indian style for more time than was needed. I was kind of hard; he didn't exactly have his hands and arms to help balance. He shuffled his legs out and moved them to the left. His foot felt like it was vibrating from it being asleep.

His scuffling attracted Svidi's attention, but she looked away once she saw he wasn't doing anything…irrational. Looking up at the sky, she narrowed her eyes as she pondered on something, and then drifted it back down to the six other Berserkers resting at the camp.

"Its noon, time to move out;" She commanded, looking at her six soldiers present at the camp. They got up and began to untie the teens. Keeping their hands bound and their gags on, they shoved all five of them forward, crossbows aimed and swords firm in their hands. Vangar picked up Hiccup, his prosthetic placed back where it belonged, before he too was shoved forward, but in a different direction.

Astrid kept looking back, wanting to know where they were taking her friend. The guard behind her roughly pushed her forward making her lose her balance a little and lose sight of Hiccup. She was apprehensive on where they were taking him, but also on where they were taking _them_.

* * *

Hiccup was shoved forward once more on account that he was walking too slow… again. When he stumbled forward, he groaned and turned around facing Svidi and Vangar.

"Will you stop it! I've been going to same pace I have when we left!" They were kind enough to take the gag off of him, but his arms hurt like crazy being squeezed by this vine-rope.

Svidi chuckled out of amusement and Vangar just smiled, "Your pace is too slow for my liking." He shoved Hiccup forward again and chuckled as the boy stumbled once more.

"Calm yourself brother, you don't want to agitate him." Svidi joked, earning a good hearty laugh from her brother. Hiccup growled and glowered at them, wanting very much to retort some comment that was sure to get him a smack in the face, but he had to stay quiet; Svidi would never listen to him if she didn't trust him. The woman's comment on Vangar being her brother caught him by surprise, though.

_No wonder she's more relaxed with him, he's family. But with the others, the soldiers, she's tense and uptight. Does she not trust them?_ Hiccup pondered while walking.

_Then again, they are Berserkers; can't really trust any of them. _Hiccup's eyes drifted to the left, not really looking back at the two siblings, but directing his glare in their direction.

_…Except Oswald the Agreeable… poor Oswald._

His face softened at the memory of the man. He never really knew the guy, but from what his dad told him, he was one of a kind. Suddenly, his eyes widened from a thought.

_Wait a minute… do they know that Dagur killed their Chief?_ He turned his head back towards them, eyes narrowing.

_Would they even care to know?_

"Where are we going?" Hiccup asked in an innocent way, a fake innocent way.

"You'll find out soon enough." Svidi replied with a mischievous grin.

* * *

Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins were lead through the forest at the tips of arrows and blades. They were unlucky with their gags, the soldiers having no interests in hearing them squabble. Astrid wanted to formulate an escape plan; get out of these bindings, take down these noobs, and go find Hiccup, but with the gag on, any word she would say would be heard to any ear as a mumble. And any mumble heard by the Berserkers raised their suspicions and their chances of escaping would slowing diminish.

Suddenly, the guards split up, three taking Fishlegs and the twins, the other taking Astrid and Snotlout.

Snotlout mumbled something behind his gag; Astrid figured it was similar to what she was thinking.

_What are they doing?_

They were being separated, again; Ruff, Tuff and Fishlegs were taking to the left and Astrid and Snotlout were taken to the right. They didn't get that far away from each other when an idea popped into Astrid's head. She pretend tripped over a rock and bumped into Snotlout. Snotlout staggered for balance and glared at Astrid for her clumsiness. She glared at him back, her eyes holding some sort of message, but it wasn't clear to Snotlout as he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Hey, walk with your two feet girl." One of the soldiers warned her. She just narrowed her eyes and pretended to trip again, falling into Snotlout. This time, however, she knocked him clean over, as well as herself. Snotlout mumble-screamed as he fell, landing right in front of a rock, a rock with sharp edges. His eyes opened as realization hit him.

"What are you, drunk? I said walk straight!" The man shouted in frustration. The two other soldiers moved to pick their captives up off the ground. Snotlout rushed with the bindings, moving his wrists up and down quickly to weaken the vine-rope. And once they were…

He flexed his muscles and broke through, tore off the gag, and immediately punched the guy in front of him. The third one began to yell, warning Snotlout with his crossbow raised.

Astrid kicked her guy in the… well, you know. He instantly dropped his weapon and crouched over; falling back onto the third guy and the two fell in a heap. Snotlout cut Astrid's bindings; with her hands free she tore off the gag as well.

"Run, go back to the village and get Stoick!" She shouted at him. He took now time to think and dashed off, going as fast as his legs could take him.

"They escaped!" "The prisoners have escaped!" The soldiers shouted, the other three guards leading the twins and Fishlegs in the opposite direction stopped and turned around; one of them ran over. The other two, pushed their three captives to the ground and aimed their crossbows point-blank at the faces. By the time the one guard got over to the others, the one that got punched in the face by Snotlout stood up and pointed in the direction the boy ran off. Both of them dashed after him. Astrid sucker punched the last standing Berserker in the face, elbowing him in the gut next, then swept him off his feet by kicking his legs out from under him. She sneered at them, before heading over to the others, ready to take out the last two and set her friends fre—

She fell to the ground in a heap as a bola was wrapped around her waist and torso. The four scouts came up to her, one of them placing his knee hard against her back.

"Feisty little one ain't she." He commented with amusement.

* * *

Snotlout raced through the leaves, dodging the fallen tree trunks and jumping over the uplifted tree roots.

"He's here! Hurry!" He heard shouts from behind him, but ignored them. He shrieked as an arrow inches from hitting his face, embedding into a tree instead. He continued to run, ducking a few times to save his life.

"Come on legs, almost there!" he encouraged himself, breathing rather heavily. He burst through the last of flora and ran across the field toward the houses. The Berserkers took the risk and continued to chase him, their only thoughts right now being their punishment for letting the boy escape. One took out a bola and through it, hitting his target's legs.

Snotlout stumbled before falling onto his stomach, his heart still racing in his chest. The Berserkers ran up to him, but suddenly stopped and hesitated to fall back. Coming up to them were a heard of Berkians, spears ready to be thrown, and they were. The two men retreated back towards the trees, the spears lodging themselves into the ground where their targets once stood. The two Berserkers were suddenly stopped again, a secret brigade of Gobber's scouts popping out of the trees with their crossbows. Surrounded, they gave into defeat, dropping their weapons and lifting their hands up.

Stoick and Gobber came waltzing over, Gobber skipping a little to keep up with Stoick's quick pace. The chief glanced down at an exhausted Snotlout and then up at a two captured Berserkers.

"What is going on here?!" He demanded to know.

"Sir… they… we…" Snotlout was too tired to get the words out. He stood up, despite his legs being wrapped by a bola.

"I… MADE IT." He announced victoriously before collapsing to the ground again.

* * *

**To be continued… **


	7. BERSERK

**A.N.**

**We have 4 more Tuesdays guys, 4 more Tuesdays until the Tuesday of Defenders of Berk! I was looking on my calendar and figuring out the amount of time its going to take to finish this story and ****_Burdened Onus_****. I'd probably make it—that is if I post everyday—til the 25****th****of August. That leaves me with... 16 days until Defenders of Berk. Now if I come up with another idea after ****_Burdened Onus _****then I'll be able to post that story and still make it in time for the new season.**

**Because of the new season, I want to start fresh and try to stick with the limitations of the show. So, for all of my stories that are written in the world of Riders of Berk, they will be made as a season. The only difference in doing so is that I'm NOT adding any of my OCs into these new stories of mine—I want to brake away from that. For example, whatever happened in ****_It Comes At Night_****never happened in my future stories based in the world of Defenders of Berk.**

**What I'm trying to say from the above paragraph, all of my original ideas such as the snow berries, the Banshee, any of the minor "spare part" characters like Vincent or Svidi, they will not be included in my future stories and that also means my first season of stories never happened. Separate them, DO NOT connect the two, please. I don't know how much better I can explain this! If you have any questions pm me.**

**I have the first season stories listed on my profile, check it out if you're confused.**

**Also, Svidi does not have multiple personality disorder, she just acts differently around certain people due to trust issues and some personal gain. I know that would have been something else, but Svidi's just a minor fill in for the villains department.**

_**Agdoll95**_**my answer to your problem in in the author's note after the end of the chapter**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 7**

**B.E.R.S.E.R.K**

* * *

"_Snot...lout..."_

"_Snotlout..."_

"Snotlout..."

Snotlout slowly pulled himself back into the conscious world, blinking a couple of times to adjust his eyesight and focus his blurry vision. From what he could see, he was in the Great Hall.

"Huh?" he asked groggily to the voice that was calling out his name.

"Hey, Snotlout; wake up!" Gobber said before slapping the boy across the face. That got his attention. Snotlout screamed, thinking it was another Berserker ready to kill him or put him in a world of hurt for running away. He jumped up and stood in a karate pose even though his closed eyes and squeamish look told anyone that he was far from threatening.

"Calm down Snotlout, its just me." Gobber said, not at all taken back by his sudden actions.

"Oh, Gobber," Snotlout sighed in relief, recognizing a friend. "Phew, I thought you were a threat."

"Don't calm down too much." Gobber replied, feeling insulted. "What happened to ya, why are you all—" Gobber paused, checking him out before coming to odds, "Well, actually no, you're always like that."

"Ugh, you'll never believe what happened to us." Snotlout began, taking in deep breaths.

"No, I'm pretty sure I have a good idea of what happened. I wasn't my intention... ah who am I kidding? It was my intention, but not like this." Gobber continued.

"The Berserkers, Gobber! They captured us on like the first day!" Snotlout informed him, though he already told him of his acknowledgment. "I told Hiccup we shouldn't have gone in the direction of the cove. It's all his fault!" Snotlout exclaimed the falsehood, but he couldn't keep the stature.

"I betcha it's not his fault." Gobber said with disbelief, shaking his head.

Snotlout let out a whine, "It's not his fault." Snotlout cupped his hands at his face, "Now the Berserkers are going to take him back to Dagur and who knows what is going to happen to him."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait. Run that by me again."

The Great Hall's doors burst open and Stoick the Vast marched in. Most of the time, he was calm, but his slightly fast pace and angered look said otherwise.

"The Berserkers aren't talking, so I locked them up with the other one. Don't feed them for three days." The chief commanded while approaching Gobber and Snotlout. His face was serious and held a secret fear. He looked at Snotlout sternly,

"Snotlout..." Stoick left the question go, knowing very well that Snotlout could pick it up with out needing it completed.

"We fell right into a Berserker trap, okay! How many times must I say it, it was embarrassing enough the first time!" Snotlout said defensively. Stoick slowly turned his head over to Gobber, his flat expression never leaving his face. He just stared at Gobber, contemplating on whether or not to kill the man. Eventually, he turned his attention back to Snotlout.

"Snotlout, where are Hiccup and the others?" Stoick asked, half willing to work with the kid.

"I don't know, we got separated before I escaped. Alls I saw was Svidi and Vangar taking Hiccup in the opposite direction that we were going."

"Who?" Gobber asked.

"Their hot leader and the other I think is second-in-command." Snotlout replied.

"We have to find them," Stoick looked at Gobber, "And quick."

"I've already got plenty of scouts out there."

"_Plenty_ is not enough! This is my _son_ we're talking about Gobber!"

Snotlout shrunk a little, "I think I better leave." he tipped-toed away from his previous spot and half ran out the door.

"I know Hiccup's your _son_ Stoick, I'm not blind! I didn't lose an eyeball too!"

"This was all your idea." Stoick replied angrily, moving away a step or two to better contain himself.

"You agreed! I don't even care what percentage it was, you agreed with me!"

"WELL THEN I SHOULDN'T OF!"

"WELL THEN I SHOULDN'T OF COME UP WITH THE IDEA!"

The Great Hall was silent again as both men just paused and looked down at the floor. They glanced at one another,

"Gobber, what are we doing?" Stoick asked in a softer tone.

"We're screaming at each other."

"Why?" The question was pretty obvious to both of them.

"Because we're afraid." The two looked at each other again, apologies evident on their expressions.

"You know what we should be doing..."

"Banging some Berserker heads together..." Stoick smiled at the idea.

Gobber placed his hand on Stoick's shoulder, "Come on Stoick, let's go get them back."

* * *

Hiccup was lead out of the forest and onto the beach, his prosthetic sinking a little further down in the moist sand then his right foot. His heart was racing, thinking the Berserkers had somehow found a boat and was leading him to it. Turning out that wasn't the case, his heart still didn't rest as he was shoved off towards the water, the three going as far as ankle deep in the flowing tide.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up and keep moving." Hiccup was shoved towards a group of large rocks. He recognized the place as Death's Hollow. It was a spot on Berk's beach where during the high tide, the entire caves would be flooded. The caves held a good deposit of iron ore, being one of the hot spots for Gobber and him to go mine additional iron for the forge. The only way to enter the caves would be when the tide subsided.

The three entered the small cavern, the water reaching up to their ankles. Hiccup's mind began to race almost as fast as his heart; due to the circumstances and knowledge of the place, he had every right to be worried.

Vangar grabbed his right arm and hauled him up onto a small rock, a wooden stake firmly lodged in between it and the wall. Vangar tied him tightly to the post, having him standing up just in case. Hiccup's head was barely touching the ceiling of the small cavern, the reason for that, Hiccup really didn't want to think about.

Then, the two of them turned to leave.

"Wait! You can't leave me here! The tide will come in!"

"Our intentions aren't to kill you, Hiccup. But if your father really loves you, then we'll get what we want." Svidi answered, her echoing voice being the last he heard of them before they disappeared around the corner and out of the cavern.

The only sound he heard was his own quickened breathes and the rushing water that came pooling in. And to make matters worse, the only was out was where the water was coming in.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Well, I think that's a good place to pause. Sorry about the huge author's not at the beginning.**

**Agdoll95, to answer your question you posted with your comment; the only reason I can think of for your account not working is that when you create a Fanfiction account, you have to wait 2 days before it becomes active. You typed that review on the 6****th****, I just got it today, so it should allow you to log on now.**


	8. Hollowed

**Man, it's raining cats and dogs here in Pittsburgh, PA. I want the weather to lift so I can go swimming; not today, but ya know, I want to go swimming on a really hot day.**

**Bad news/good news. The bad news is, this story is almost done; the good news is this story is almost done! I can finally work on ****_Burdened Onus_****! I'm seeing at least one more chapter after this one, so I'll try to keep them at equal length as my other chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 8**

**Hollowed**

* * *

Astrid was shoved roughly down a hole; landing on her hands and knees, grunting as the drop was more than what she predicted. Fishlegs and the twins were also thrown down the hole, landing on one another and causing some bruising. Ruff and Tuff got up, their hands either on their side or back, moaning from the harsh landing their bodies endured. Fishlegs just stayed down on his back, looking up at the only light there was, the entrance of the hole. The Berserkers sneered down at them, before their heads disappeared from view. Astrid heard some talking, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying. Scuffling was heard, then all of a sudden, their light was beginning to dissipate as a large rock was being drug over the entrance. However, much to their horror, the rock wasn't being served as a door, it was served as a means of getting rid on them. Astrid noticed this as the rock began to tip downward towards them and her eyes widened from fright.

The kids began to scream as the rock moved closer and closer to the point of falling. Three Berserkers struggled in moving the boulder faster as was ordered by one of their comrades. Two more joined in pushing, unfortunately enabling the boulder to slide faster.

"Almost there, hurry up!" One of them shouted. Suddenly, a blast of fire shot towards them and hit the ground right by their feet. The soldiers stopped pushing altogether and spread a part, away from the rock. Another blast hit the ground next to them causing them to back off even further. Hookfang emerged from the trees and came down at them in a fiery inferno.

"Get away from my friends, you low life savages!" Snotlout hollered as he and Hookfang continued to shot fire at them. Meatlug, Stormfly, and Barf and Belch came up from behind the two and attacked the Berserkers mercilessly. Stormfly roared and flicked up her tail, shooting dozens of spikes out towards her adversaries. The Berserkers scattered, a couple hiding behind some trees to avoid getting impaled.

Barf and Belch came up from behind them, hissing at them before Barf breathed out his gas. Berserkers abandoned their positions immediately, but their feet weren't fast enough before Belch sparked. The man were thrown forward from the force and out into the presence of Hookfang and Snotlout again. Hookfang roared at them and lit himself a blaze, except for his neck where Snotlout was sitting.

Berkians were coming out of the bushes left and right now, surrounding the rivaling tribe members and leaving them helpless. Many of the soldiers were tied from bolas, but few were already on the ground, injured from Barf and Belch's blast.

The four started screaming again as the rock began to tip over, signaling their oncoming doom. Their closed their eyes and waited for the impact, but...

It never came.

Looking up, the rock was being lifted upwards; inch by inch fleeing from their sights. Meatlug brought it up and out of the hole before devouring it entirely, licking her lips in satisfaction.

"Meatlug!" Fishlegs exclaimed with so much joy, one could not describe it.

"Barf!" "Belch!" Ruff and Tuff exclaimed as well, said dragon heads coming down, grabbing their rider's hands gently with in their teeth, and lifted them up and out of the hole. Astrid and Fishlegs were next as Stormfly's tail was brought down. Astrid grabbed hold and so did Fishlegs.

All of them were delighted to see daylight again, but more delighted to see their dragons. Fishlegs ran over to Meatlug, giving her a bear hug as he toppled to the ground, her licking his cheek. Astrid hugged Stormfly's head, petting and grooming her scales. The twins jumped onto their dragon, giving each other a high five and banging heads together, Barf and Belch did the same.

"Wow, its a good thing I came when I did; you guys would have been as flat as a pancake." Snotlout commented while on his dragon.

"Snotlout, I never thought I'd say this, but thank you so much for saving us." Astrid confessed.

"Yeah, I know, I'm awesome." Snotlout replied with a smirk, looking at his hand for any complexion faults.

"You lot seem okay for facing a near death experience." Gobber stated as he hobbled on over to them. Astrid was about to say something back, but her mind thought of something more important.

"Wait, where's Hiccup? Did you find him?"

"No, but we got the best men on the job." Gobber replied with full confidence.

* * *

The water rose just below the top of the rock Hiccup was forced to stand on. Every second or so the tide would roll in and cause the level of the water to rise to his ankle. He struggled with his bindings, trying to loosen the rope by moving his hands around, but with little luck, he hoped that maybe the vine-rope would get cut into from the post. Another wave came in and almost swept Hiccup off his feet, he gasped and tried to bring his foot back up. Another wave came and faltered his balance. His weight hanging from the post caused more pressure to press against his wrists; a hiss escaped his lips from the pain. Using his prosthetic as a foothold, he retracted his other foot back up on top of the rock.

Hiccup looked around the dark interior, keeping his body up against the stake as another wave tried to sweep away his balance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening his eyes again, he roared a Night Fury call, the sound acting exactly as he'd predicted. Reverberating off of the walls and out of the increasingly shrinking opening, the call ventured out into the sky; hopefully landing on the ears of his best friend.

* * *

Toothless bounded through the forest, his footsteps lost in the fast rhythm of his heart beat. He ran as fast as fast can be for a Night Fury, the fallen logs and low hanging branches not getting in his way. He swung right for a mere second before passing a tree and turning left again.

Overhead was Thornado, on his back his rider, Stoick. Stoick's eyes scanned the trees below, knowing very well that if he missed something, Toothless would pick it up. He furrowed his eyebrows, seeing nothing by trees, trees, trees, and no sign of his son.

"Hiccup!" He called out, not really caring if the Berserkers heard him or not. In his opinion, he was warning them of an inevitable doom. They were not going to continue to live on _his_ lands. They have definitely overstayed their welcome, even though they weren't welcomed in the first place.

Toothless jumped out of the dense forest and into a more open one. He stopped by a tree and began to sniff the ground, circling and continuing over to the next one a few yards away. His eyes caught a glimpse of a footprint in the dirt and he stopped. The right foot was a small boot print, the left the shape of Hiccup's prosthetic. Toothless' head lifted up and his eyes widened with joy. He called out to Thornado in the sky before sniffing the ground again.

Thornado landed near Toothless, his rider watching the black dragon sniff the ground.

"What is it Toothless, did you find something?" Toothless sniffed the footprints, following them a ways before a new scent filled his nostrils. He lifted his head up and began to growl deeply at the scent—similar to when Hiccup first discovered dragons didn't like eels. He looked in the direction the scent was going and roared angrily. Taking off in a haste, he left the footprints go and followed the scent he knew was not suppose to be here.

"Thornado, follow!" Stoick ordered, said Thunderdrum taking off into the sky once more to follow his comrade.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**Okay, this time its not a cliffhanger... or is it? Alright I had to end it here so that there will be enough of a story left for the next chapter. Gotta save the best for last, you know what I'm saying? Of course you do**

**Thanks again you guys for the constant support. I know I say that all the time, but that's because I truly mean it.**

**Oh and if you're wondering whether or not Toothless heard the call Hiccup gave, he does in the next chapter. A bit of a time difference in events here, that's all.**


	9. Defend

**A.N.**

**I've managed to include a 10****th**** chapter everyone! Still got the 10 chapter mark goal down! As soon as the conclusion is posted, ****_Burdened Onus _****will be posted as well. Thanks again for ****all ****of the support!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 9**

**Defend**

* * *

"And what if your plan backfires?" Vangar asked, skeptical as usual. He and Svidi were approaching the rendezvous point, an open region of the forest where the trees were more scattered and not clustered together.

She rolled her eyes at his question, "The only way it'll backfire is if _Stoick_ doesn't cooperate." She said glancing back at him. When she looked forward again, she stopped in her tracks. None of her men were at the rendezvous point, which meant only one thing.

Vangar looked at her self-righteously, she just glared back.

"You were saying...?"

"Minor set back, we didn't need them anyway."

"Svid, they're _your_ soldiers, you can't just let them die. I thought you were over the bounty hunter business." Vangar exclaimed.

"I _was_ a bounty hunter, but I was _never_ a murderer!" Svidi protested. A Thunderdrum roar from the sky shook them out of their argument. Vangar looked at the nearest tree and pointed Svidi towards it.

"Up the tree, hurry." Both climbed the branches, the leaves covering their frames while giving them a descent view of the ground around them.

Thornado came down and landed at their rendezvous point, not too far from the tree they were hiding in. Stoick jumped off and scanned the ground for any footprints then searched the horizons for any signs of the Berserker soldiers and his son.

"What's the plan?" Vangar whispered.

"Follow my lead." Svidi answered, slowly standing up on the tree limb and pulling out one of her personalized throwing knives from her left boot.

What they didn't noticed, was a black figure behind them. It hung upside down like a bat, and was present there the whole time since before Svidi and Vangar showed up. Its wings were unfolding from its face, eyes narrowing into slits. It growled bared its teeth and let out a low, threatening growl. Both Berserkers' eyes grew and they turned around.

Svidi gasped, "Night Fury!" Toothless roared at them, a whistling sound coming from deep within this throat.

"Get down!" Vangar yelled as the two of them jumped off of the branch just before Toothless shot a plasma blast at them. Vangar landed with his knees bent to help distribute the force, while Svidi landed with a thud, falling forward slightly, but did a front flip to better balance herself.

Toothless roared at them again from the tree branch he was now standing on. Firing another plasma blast, he separated the two, Svidi going left, Vangar moving right. He climbed down the tree and fired again, this time just at Svidi.

Vangar was about to move in to help his sister, when a near strike at his face from a sword told him otherwise. Stoick stood in front of him with his sword ready. Thornado bounded to the other side, moving behind the male Berserker.

"Well, this certainly won't be a fair fight." Vangar acknowledged.

"It's not even suppose to be a _fight_." Stoick informed him.

Svidi back flipped out of the way of yet another one of Toothless' plasma blast. He circled the female, moving very quick to lessen her ability of recovering quick enough to dodge. She did another back flip before throwing two of her knives. Toothless easily disintegrated them with his amethyst blasts, earning a look of irritation from his adversary. While reaching down to receive more knives, Toothless pounced forward and barely got a bite in, but Svidi dodged by kicking Toothless' head to the side and flipping to the side. However, Toothless wasn't done, swinging his tail over and knocking Svidi off her feet and across the ground once she landed her flip.

Vangar and Stoick shared some punches, but it was evident who was the victor in this fight. Thornado kept circling the two fighters, keeping Vangar in a perimeter.

"Why don't you just make this easy on yourselves..." Stoick swung his sword downward, sweeping Vangar's leg out from under him and throwing him to the ground. Stoick pointed his blade's tip at his exposed neck.

"...and tell me where my son is." Svidi managed to avoid yet another fatal blast from Toothless and ran/flipped her way over toward Stoick and Vangar; Toothless was close behind her.

"Harm him and your son dies!" That got Stoick's attention as he turned his head over to her. Toothless, understanding what she was talking about, didn't fire another of his plasma blasts, but still sized her up as he listened.

"Its a simple trade, let us go and Hiccup lives."

"Don't think I'm clueless to what you have in mind. You want to take one of our boats, sail back to Berserk with Hiccup and hand him over to your deranged, teenaged leader so that he could train your dragons. I'm pretty sure my son made himself clear, but just in case you need a refresher, **he's not training your DRAGONS!**" On cue, both Toothless and Thornado fired, well in Thornado's case, shouted, at Svidi and hit her square on. Knocking her back, she was throw across the ground like a rag doll. Toothless ran after her as well as Thornado.

Stoick grabbed Vangar and dragged him over to Svidi who was still laying on the ground. He brought out some rope he had with him and tied the two up tight.

Toothless was eying the two of them when his ears perked up and his eyes widened. A barely audible sound off in the distance caught his attention. He knew that sound, it was a Night Fury call. He turned his head in the direction and immediately ran towards it, knowing very well that it was his Hiccup.

Stoick noticed Toothless' sudden departure, but he needed to know some information first.

"Now, where are you keeping my son?" Stoick demanded while looking down at them.

Vangar knew he was defeated, but he kept his composure. Glancing at his half conscious sister, he looked back at Stoick with seriousness.

"Death's Hollow."

* * *

Hiccup took a deep breath before the wave came over him, the cavern being completely underwater for a few seconds before the tide receded. Taking in large breaths, Hiccup shivered non stop from the icy cold sea water. The water was now up to his shoulders, his limbs numb from the bindings being so tight, the dark cold ocean making it even worse. Another wave came in and submerged him under. Once it left and the cavern held its limited supply of oxygen again, Hiccup coughed up some unwanted water and inhaled his air again.

The entrance was gone, submerged by the tides. Hiccup only had so much time left before the whole cavern was going to follow.

When the next wave came and mercilessly plunge him under, a faint sound reverberated through the H2O. Hiccup knew instantly what it was a once he reached oxygen again, he yelled.

"Toothless! Toothless, I'm in here!" His breath was caught short as the water washed over his head once more.

Said Night Fury jumped into the water, paddling out a good distance and over to the supposed entrance of the large cavern. He roared again before diving under, using the tide's current to help quickly swim through the opening. As soon as he resurfaced, he saw his rider, tided to a pole and barely above the water level.

"Toothless!" Hiccup exclaimed with sheer joy. Toothless swam over to him, having a bit of difficulty due to the force of the waves that kept trying to bash him against the rock walls.

"Hurry bud, the water's rising." Hiccup said as he had to lift his head up, the water level now touching just below his jaw line. Toothless dove under and bit the ropes, pulling hard on them, it took only a few seconds before they snapped. Now loose, the wave pushed Hiccup back towards the wall; but grabbed a hold of Toothless' saddle before it could bang him against the rocks.

Using his wings, Toothless fought against the current as best as he could, getting farther when the tide would recede. A huge wave, came and completely flooded the cavern, pushing Hiccup and Toothless under. Their struggles were beginning to look futile as some of their progress was taken away by yet another wave. An idea came to Toothless and he waited until the tide receded before firing a plasma blast behind him. The blast pushed them forward and out of the underwater aperture just in time to miss another wave.

Thornado and the other dragons, whom have evidently caught up with their chief, landed on the beach away from the roaring sea. Their riders jumped off and ran towards the shore line. Toothless and Hiccup were walking up onto the sand, Hiccup keeping his hold on the saddle, both of them exhausted. A few steps further and Hiccup's legs gave out; falling onto his knees, he sat there in the sand inhaling and exhaling. Toothless sat next to him, nudging his head while cooing protectively.

Hiccup looked at him with tired eyes, "Thank you bud, you are amazing." He hugged his head and closed his eyes.

"Hiccup!" Stoick shouted while running as fast as he could over to him. Astrid got there first and hugged him tightly, Stoick a second later doing the same.

"You're okay!" she stated joyously; Hiccup shivering nonstop.

With their body heat warming him up, he smiled. He knew he could count on his family and friends. Despite the odds, they always seemed to make it out a-okay.

* * *

**To be continued...**

**One more chapter left—the conclusion.**

**Sorry for any typos**


	10. Teamwork

**A.N.**

**Well, this is it, the last chapter. I'm writing it in the copy-n-paste box, so apologies for any typos. I've already posted the new story ****_Burdened Onus_**** so go check it out if you'd like once your done reading.**

**Sorry about this conclusion being fairly smaller than the rest of my chapters.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Escape**

**Chapter 10**

**Teamwork**

* * *

Toothless wasted no time in feasting on the available fish. He buried his head into the basket and gulped down the cod as fast as he could. His rider, Hiccup, was being dried off with a towel by Stoick. Hiccup sat on the table by the fire pit in his house, his wet, cold shirt off so that his dad could rub his body free of the chilling cold. Stoick covered his head with the towel and scrubbed his wet hair, earning a protesting moan from Hiccup. The chief chuckled and removed the now damp towel off of his son's face. Hiccup's hair was a mess and he groaned while trying to fix the standing up strands.

While Hiccup took the time to pat his hair down, Stoick hung the cloth up to dry before going to the back of the house to get a cup of hot tea.

Hiccup picked up another towel, a bunch of them sitting beside him to his right, and lifted up his left leg. He removed his prosthetic and began cleaning the stub free of sand and sea water. When he was done, he moved onto his prosthetic.

Stoick came back over and sat the hot cup of tea down next to him. Hiccup turned his head, smiled and thanked his dad for the help. Picking up another basket of fish, one that Toothless had yet to get a hold of, and took it outside for Thornado. On his way out he saw Hiccup's friends and Gobber coming up. He nodded to Gobber, a gesture saying that they could go in.

Hiccup was putting his prosthetic back on when Gobber, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout and the twins came in.

"Hi guys," He greeted with a smile.

"Hi Hiccup, are you feeling any warmer?" Astrid asked.

"Much, much warmer." Astrid smiled at him and grabbed one of his dry shirts. She handed it to him and he took it with thanks.

"Thank you milady." He slipped it on, took the cup of tea in his hands and sipped.

Snotlout took a seat in one of the chairs, leaning back and resting his feet up on the table.

"Well, that camping trip was an utter failure." he stated nonchalantly.

"Uh, don't remind me." Fishlegs commented.

"Well it looks like we proved we couldn't defend ourselves." Astrid added, looking down with shame.

"I wouldn't be so sure." Gobber said, gaining the attention of the teens.

"Gobber, we almost died." Hiccup stated.

"Yes, but you didn't. I've realized that you guys have actually survived and escaped disasters many times before before. And each time, you used teamwork. It was wrong of me to separate your team and expect the same results." Gobber explained.

"Separate our team? But we were all together, for the most part." Astrid replied, confused as to what Gobber was getting at.

"No, you weren't." Stoick said, coming into the house and closing the door. He sat the now empty basket down and walked over to the group. "Me and Gobber wanted you kids to learn to defend yourselves using teamwork. We didn't realize how big your team really was. The dragons are a part of your team, and even though they can be your weakness, they are also your greatest strength-as it is with most things."

"But honestly, we're just glad you are all back safe and sound. And now that the Berserkers are all gathered up and snuggled tied in our prisons, we can pack 'em onto a ship and sail them off to Berserk." Gobber stated.

"I'm sure Dagur will appreciate the present." Stoick added with both hands on his thighs.

* * *

The last Berserker, Svidi to be exact, was shoved onto the small Berkian boat, her bindings causing her to stumble a little and bump into the rest of her men.

"Oops, sorry, hope I didn't brake one of your nails." Gobber criticized, earning a glare from Svidi.

"Alright, that's all of them." Hiccup said.

"If anyone of you want to do some last minute gloating, now's the time." Gobber said while coming down off of the plank that lead onto the boat.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh," Snotlout exclaimed with a raised hand, running onto the board and standing in front of the Berserkers.

"You guys seriously thought you could take us? I don't think so, you can't handle any of this!" He ranted while pointing to himself. Astrid rolled her eyes,

"Oh please, at least spare them of _that_." Hiccup, who was standing next to her, shook his head at Snotlout. He crossed his arms as he watch the boat leave the dock and sail off towards Berserk.

Suddenly, his arm was punched by Astrid's fist. He stumble slightly to the left before regaining balance and rubbing his now bruised arm.

"Ow, what was **that** for?" he asked.

"Hmm, just felt like I had to do it." She replied, smiling compassionately at him. The rising sun's rays made her hair almost look like gold, a slight breeze blew and gently swayed her strands of hair back and out of her face.

Hiccup looked at her like he was in trance. He made up his mind and moved closer to her, planting his lips on hers and giving one of his own kisses. When he pulled away, he looked down before glancing back up at her eyes and smiling. He began walking off of the dock, a small blush on his cheeks.

Astrid looked out at the horizon, a smile growing on her lips. He turned around and watched for a little while as Hiccup walked away.

Her smile grew more and she dashed after him.

* * *

**The End**


End file.
